Columns

It’s the call that every aspirant in the political hinterland dreams of: “Will you give our party’s response to the president’s State of the Union Address?”
The answer is always “yes” – and then the drama begins. The stakes are incredibly high. Many fail, some miserably (see Gov. Bobby Jindal in 2009) but the opportunity is exposure to more than 30 million people as the alternative voice to the president of the United States.

Welcome to Van Wyck! What an emotionally packed meeting Jan. 12 at the community center to hear from the Indian Land representatives who want to incorporate and include the Van Wyck community. There were a lot of opinions expressed, but I believe the main take away is this:
Van Wyck residents do not want to be included in the IL incorporation.

Editor’s note: This is last week’s presentation speech by Steve Sherrill honoring Gus Deligiannidis, owner of Gus’s Family Restaurant and Gus’s Family Pizza, as the Lancaster chamber’s Small Business of the Year. Coming Sunday: Jackie Brown.

Editor’s note: This is the presentation speech by Rick Jiran, Duke Energy’s director of government and community relations, from Thursday night’s annual Lancaster chamber annual awards banquet. We will publish the speeches honoring each of this year’s five major honorees. Coming Wednesday: Don Gardner.

“The best way to find yourself,” Mahatma Gandhi said, “is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Editor’s note: The S.C. Democratic Party picked Rep. Mandy Powers Norrell to deliver the party’s televised response to Gov. Nikki Haley’s State of the State Address Jan. 20. Here are excerpts of Norrell’s speech:

I am Mandy Powers Norrell, and I represent the southern half of Lancaster County in the S.C. House of Representatives.
Like Gov. Haley, I was also born and raised in rural South Carolina, and educated in our public schools. But while we have similar backgrounds, we see things from different perspectives.

Excerpts of Gov. Nikki Haley’s sixth State of the State Address, delivered Jan. 20 before a joint legislative session:

With good reason, we talk a lot about the things South Carolina does well, the records we are breaking, the rankings that show us rising to the top.
Number one in foreign investment. The number one exporter of tires. One of the fastest growing economies on the East Coast…. All of South Carolina should take pride in those facts. There are others, however, we talk about less. And that we should never be proud of.

I have a dream for the world. My dream is concerning our nation’s problems and the world’s problems. I dream that one day the dreams of others can be lived in a way of peace. My dream includes that very peace that most of us look for in this world and our daily lives. I dream that one day that my dreams will inspire and motivate many generations to come. This is my big dream! Prepare to hear the truth.

On April 4, 1963, a man named Martin Luther King Jr. shared his dream with the world. His dream was not to be rich but to feel rich by sharing kindness with everyone. His dream was that people, as a whole, could look past their differences and live together in harmony because, even though we come from different countries, we speak in different tongues, and we look different, we are all human.